The Curragh

Diamond Geezer

Diamond Geezer

Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
13,884
Horse Racing Ireland have announced a €65 million development plan for the Curragh, with a new grandstand, weighing room and parade ring,with a museum of Irish racing as part of the proposal.

Been a few years since I was there but would be tempted back by a museum which presumably would be open every day like the Museum Of The Horse beside Chantilly which is fascinating.
 
http://www.designboom.com/architect...d-to-redevelop-curragh-racecourse-02-05-2014/

You can see some impressions here of what it is all supposed to look like.

I'd be worried though about the design's suitability for the site and climate. It looks like a design for a tropical country where you are trying to provide as much shade as possible while also encouraging air to circulate. The Curragh on the other hand is a very exposed site where the grandstand faces into the teeth of the prevailing wind. This design offers no protection from it on the lower tiers.

Has this been thought through? In some of the images the sun is coming from the wrong direction. For example the view of the horses running towards the finish has the sun situated behind the stand, in the north east. The stand also seems to be much closer to the track than in the other images.

The bookies will also be alarmed to see there is no betting ring, unless the plan is to move them indoors.

Finally, I hope they have saved something in the budget for work on the track. The straight drains more slowly than the rest of the track and there is a serious draw bias in sprint races.
 
How many more 'new plans' are the Curragh going to announce? Hasn't this been kicking round for a decade now but it ran out of money and got shelved

Looks like a windswept design guaranteed to deliver the racegoer a right good soaking
 
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Doesn't look great. Grey raises the obvious concern about the climate; looks great on a summers day, but how will it treat racegoers on Irish Lincoln/Cesarewitch day etc?

All that apart, I don't particularly like the aesthetics either. I also don't get this this idea about the stand "respecting the wider environment." What does that even mean?

The Curragh is a worldclass racetrack, but this doesn't strike me as a facility to match. The other key question is what does it look like under the bonnet; whatever the grandstand looks like, the facilities need to be upgraded enormously.
 
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I know a few people that have been and describe it is the worst major racecourse they have visited. Surely with the setting and access so poor it's time to think again about a completely new facility elsewhere?

or is there any real need with a good number of courses anyway?
 
The Curragh has been associated with horse racing for thousands of years, and with all the stables round about it is the Irish Chantilly or Newmarket. There's no way the course would be relocated.

I think your friends have misinformed you, the Curragh actually has a very fine setting with the backdrop of the plain, the Wicklow mountains in the distance and the ancient church and round tower in Kildare. From the perspective of a visitor to Dublin public transport links to the course are weak but it is easily accessible by car from most parts of the country.
 
Grey said:
The Curragh has been associated with horse racing for thousands of years, and with all the stables round about it is the Irish Chantilly or Newmarket. There's no way the course would be relocated.

I think your friends have misinformed you, the Curragh actually has a very fine setting with the backdrop of the plain, the Wicklow mountains in the distance and the ancient church and round tower in Kildare. From the perspective of a visitor to Dublin public transport links to the course are weak but it is easily accessible by car from most parts of the country.
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No.

ive heard exactly the same from at least four friends all of whom have travelled a lot of the turf. One who rarely knocks any course was particularly scathing. Had as much atmosphere as the moon and was frankly a bit of a dump. For the non local visitor, lack of transport is a bit of an issue of course
 
For somebody who's never been to the place you have very adamant views about it. But that is your trademark of course
 
The main problem the track has is the linear layout.
You need to have the parade ring behind the main stand not someplace in the distance.
Sitting on the top level is certainly no place for the faint hearted on a cold day and the hired out boxes are miles from the action of betting ring and parade ring.
That there is a crowd just two or three days in the season is another problem not easily rectified on an all flat racing track.
What are the chances us annual premier members getting a share in a Derby winner a la Royal Ascot racing club and Motivator , even if like them we never see the money ?
 
You really are a ******* idiot. Cant you read? I stated they were opinions from racing friends . Know what they are? Probably not
 
not that it matters but one was a well known poster on here and trf who went racing around 200 times a year

i respect his opinion. Certainly not yours

Seems like your trademark is an inability too understand a post in plain english.

No trees pulled up there
 
Grey said:
it is the Irish Chantilly
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ahhhh - Chantilly, with its ancient royal forests, elegant chateau, and the great Champagne houses on its doorstep. I see the similarities with the Curragh now

Didn't the luftwaffe bomb the Curragh?
 
EC1 said:
no way am i having the friends bit Clive:D
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No I can't imagine you do make friends . Real ones I mean . Not the imaginary ones you see every day

and Samaritans don't count either. Especially after they told you to fck off last time
 
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Warbler said:
ahhhh - Chantilly, with its ancient royal forests, elegant chateau, and the great Champagne houses on its doorstep. I see the similarities with the Curragh nowDidn't the luftwaffe bomb the Curragh?
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It's a bit smaller than you expect too. Lovely walk from train station though.
 
EC1 said:
told you never to mention that on here..you can sleep on the setee tonight now ..pig:p
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ill tell more

ringing up the nice lady at Samaritans, saying you are suicidal ....and then asking what she is wearing .....is most definitely out of line
 
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Having missed two of the last three Guineas weekends I was determined to witness the double-double and check out the temporary facilities this weekend.
Heavy rain on my way to the races did not deter me though a few phone calls informing me my buddies were not attending put a damper on my mood.
Pools of water roadside near the racecourse did not help my mood.
So dressed appropriately for the elements I approached the entrance; a grand marquee affair with three channels for ticket holders, members and HRI card holders.
On enquiring where to purchase a membership ticket my hostess looked askance at me and said "you want Annual Membership ??!" before directing me to reception, at the rear of new weigh room / old entrance building.
Membership for the season is 175 Euro; 350 if you require a "premium" seat and access to "Premier Lounge " but they include a free racecard with this, generous souls that they are.
Once inside you could be at a music festival/ tented village of a sports event or glammed up point to point;( maybe i should have posted this on the Pointers thread)
Plenty of big screens but to get to see a horse takes effort as you now enter at the rear of the Champagne bar so are shielded from any live animals on show.
The Grand Hall betting area; PP shop, Tote and snack outlet is to the right immediately inside the entrance; a little like the Centaur at Cheltenham, you could spend the day there and see nothing else.
The food outlets provided by local hostelries have a roofed marquee for common area food consumption , big screen and resident stage for fashion, brass band ensemble etc but is in the main thoroughfare for entrance/exit. Once you pass this the parade ring is to your left as before.
The bookies ring is now an L shape with one side unaware what the other side is up to; on Saturday Davy Hyland's pitch was so far from his other colleagues that he may as well have been marooned or a cast away.
The PA system was such that interviews were impossible to hear on Saturday while today the fashion/ trivial pursuits were carried racecourse wide to the detriment of any racing fan present.
A temporary tower for cameras/ stewards is erected at the finish line with a temporary structure 100 plus metres long containing c1200 seats with standing space at the forty metres nearest the finish for customers.
Ample big screens are present at parade ring, near finish and in betting hall but sponsors and corporate facilities are well back from the course.
I have heard that rent for the marquees are 300,000 plus for this season with the same for next year.
for that kind of money a straight mile course could have been laid at Cork and it would always be there, not handed back after two years with little but bad reviews to show for the expense.
Irish Derby Day if wet will be a wash out and Champions Sunday with Leopardstown/ Cork/ HRI owners among others entitled to free entry could be very tricky to say the least.
Most of you will have read what Ivan Yeats said to Racing Post after yesterday's tough day.
Manager Derrick McGrath did not look the happiest bunny yesterday.
To paraphrase Mr Spock "It's horse racing Jim, but not as we know it !"
 
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Glad I didn't make it, instead competing gundogs in sunny (!) Northern Ireland!

Has the parade ring horse walk been resurfaced? It looked a different colour on tv but that may have been all the rain!
 
Part of the whole appeal of going racing, especially flat racing, is supposed to be the aesthetic aspect. Beautiful creatures being shown off and competing in appealing surroundings - and that's just the women. Brass bands, flower beds, lawns and trees and good buildings. One of the big reasons why I have never taken to all-weather racing, for all its usefulness to the racing industry, is that it simply doesn't look good.

At present the Curragh couldn't be any bleaker, with parts of the old stand still rising above the rubble, temporary toilets and temporary everything else. On Saturday the weather was awful, so bad that I took one look at the place from outside and went straight back to Dublin without even going in. On Sunday the weather was pleasant enough and the racing was very good but the viewing is poor and the backdrop is just terrible.

As far as I'm concerned they have a cheek to be staging race meetings there at present and an even bigger cheek charging the public full whack for it.
 
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Grey said:
Part of the whole appeal of going racing, especially flat racing, is supposed to be the aesthetic aspect. Beautiful creatures being shown off and competing in appealing surroundings - and that's just the women. Brass bands, flower beds, lawns and trees and good buildings.
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Always suspected you were a West Brit. Confirmed.
 
Converting the entrance building into the weigh room is a mistake in my view.
On entering the racecourse then you were right beside the pre parade ring onto parade ring and then the track.
Not upon entering your first query is "Where are they hiding the horses ?"
Converting the Champagne bar into a weigh room would in my view have been a far better idea.
 
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